Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley Q2 bought over $600 million SpotBTCETF

Author: Suzanne McGee, Reuters; Translation: Wu Zhu, Golden Finance

Regulatory filings submitted on Wednesday showed that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley (MS.N) together purchased over $600 million of SpotBTCexchange exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the second quarter.

These two banks have joined a group of Hedging funds and financial advisors, and these products will start trading in January 2024.

Goldman Sachs stated in its quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the company has invested approximately 418 million dollars in the acquisition of several recently launched ETFs linked to SpotBTC prices.

Most of the funds reflect Goldman Sachs’ holding of nearly 7 million shares of iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT.O), valued at about $238 million as of the end of the quarter on June 30. Goldman Sachs also holds a large number of shares in Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin ETF and Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (BTCO.Z), as well as smaller positions in several other BTC ETFs launched in January.

Morgan Stanley also favors BlackRock’s iShares BTC ETF, disclosing its ownership of 5.5 million shares, valued at 188 million dollars as of June 30. The bank also disclosed its smaller holdings in Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB.Z) and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC.P).

The 13F document is one of the few ways to understand the holdings of institutional investors at the end of each quarter. The holdings may not disclose the current holdings.

Although the latest round of documents shows that the number of institutional investors in BTC ETF may be increasing, ETF issuers and analysts say that so far, these products are mainly driven by individual investors.

The reporter was unable to contact the two banks to ask whether their Holdings represent purchases for clients or for their own account for each company.

Documents show that some Hedging funds that Built a Position in BTC ETF earlier this year adjusted their Holdings in the second quarter.

New York-based Hunting Hill Global Capital has reduced its holdings in Grayscale and Fidelity ETFs, but as of June 30, it held $18.32 million in shares of Bitwise BTC ETF (BITB.P) and acquired a new position of $25.6 million in BlackRock’s ETF.

Hunting Hill founder and CEO Adam Guren said that his company is an active trader of BTC products. “Our trading activity can change at any given time, so our positions may change,” he said.

Millennium Management LLC, headquartered in New York, disclosed that it reduced positions in three of the five BTC ETFs it held in the first quarter, while maintaining holdings in the Ark 21Shares ETF, and increased its holdings of Bitwise products from about 1.2 million shares at the end of the first quarter to nearly 2 million shares.

Overall, as of the end of the second quarter, the hedge fund’s investment in BTC ETF was about $1.15 billion, lower than the $2 billion disclosed at the end of the first quarter. The company spokesperson declined to comment.

The price of BTC has dropped by 12% this quarter.